From poo to food: Kenyan toilet waste key for new animal feed

* Human waste used to grow fly larvae high in protein
* Larvae used as chicken feed, boosting output
* Insect farming on the rise globally as greener alternative
By Hereward Holland
NAIROBI, June 17 (Reuters) - Kenyan farmer Victor Kyalo's
chickens have doubled the number of eggs they are laying. The
reason: Human excrement.
He is feeding them food from a Nairobi-based organics
recycling company. Sanergy harvests waste from toilets it
operates in a franchise network in Nairobi's sprawling slums and
feeds it to fly larvae, which become high-quality animal feed.
Kyalo says his customers have noticed the difference in the
past three weeks: yellower yolks and larger eggs.
"Before we were getting like five trays (of eggs) per day,
but now we are getting 10," Kyalo said. "It’s kind of perfect
for me."
As the world looks to feed 10 billion mouths by 2050,
businesses harvesting insects -- either for human consumption or
as animal feed -- are growing. They promote themselves as a
greener alternative to traditional feed such as soybeans, whose
cultivation can lead to deforestation and the overuse of farm
chemicals.
Fast food giant McDonald’s and U.S. agricultural powerhouse
Cargill Inc are among many large companies studying using
insects for chicken feed to reduce reliance on soy protein in
the $400 billion-a-year animal feed business.
By 2023 the global edible insect market could triple to $1.2
billion from current levels, market research firm Meticulous
Research said last year.
In developing countries like Kenya, where the World Bank
says nearly two-thirds of urbanites live in slums, feeding waste
to fly larvae could solve both sanitation and nutrition
problems.
Faeces from more than two-thirds of Nairobi's inhabitants go
untreated because there are not enough toilets. Many others are
not cleaned out regularly, Nairobi City Water and Sewerage
Company said.
During the rains, they often overflow, polluting local
waterways. That can make workers ill. Days off slow Kenya's
economy by around 1% annually, its Health Ministry said.
FROM LOO TO FOOD
David Auerbach co-founded Sanergy eight years ago to deal
with sanitation. The waste management franchise provides more
than 2,500 toilets to 100,000 people daily.
Lilian Mbusia runs one of Sanergy's franchises, charging
residents of Mukuru Kwa Ruben slum in the south of the city 5
Kenyan shillings (5 U.S. cents) to use her blue "Fresh Life"
toilets.
Nestled beneath her squat-toilets are small blue barrels
that, once full, are sealed and taken to an organics recycling
factory in Machakos County, a bumpy 40-minute drive outside the
city.
Beds of writhing black soldier fly larvae feast on a mix of
excrement and food waste from hotels and agri-businesses.
That produces two products for farmers: fertiliser and
animal feed.
In 10 days the larvae munch their way through 70% of the
waste, leaving behind a manure laden with nitrogen and calcium,
which becomes organic fertiliser.
Once the recycling plant is expanded later this year,
Auerbach said it will provide 400 tonnes of fertiliser. Larvae
production will ratchet up from 7 tonnes to 300 tonnes per
month.
"Right now we are receiving equity debt, and grant
investment to scale up operations," Auerbach said. "We're on
track for profitability by the end of 2020."
The plump white larvae are boiled in hot water to kill off
pathogens, Michael Lwoyelo, managing director of Sanergy, said.
The larvae are then sold to animal feed millers, who grind
them into powder mixed with other ingredients to create a
balanced diet for poultry, pigs and fish.
Frederick Wangombe, an animal nutritionist at Unifeed, a
Kenyan animal feed miller that uses Sanergy's black soldier fly
product, envisages it replacing fish meal from Lake Victoria,
which can contain sand and other impurities, or expensive soy
beans from Zambia.
"The egg farmer doesn't want to know what's in the feed,
they want to know the performance," he said.
($1 = 101.1000 Kenyan shillings)
(Reporting by Hereward Holland;
Editing by Maggie Fick; Katharine Houreld and Alison Williams)
2019-06-17 13:45:39

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